SERVICE 3: WEBSITE REFORM

Streamline web operations to reduce duplicative and wasteful spending while also improving overall web and digital communications.

Other Information:

Overview: Website reform is part of the Department of Energy’s efforts to achieve Management and Operational Excellence, as mentioned in the DOE 2011 Strategic Plan. Through website reform, the Department will streamline web operations to reduce duplicative and wasteful spending while also improving overall web and digital communications. Key Customer Groups: Consumers and businesses. Challenges: To consolidate existing fragmented website structures into a single more efficient and cost-effective platform. This will require cooperating between several offices and a comprehensive effort from each participating office to prepare information and documents for migration into the new content management system. Featured Actions: Reduce, consolidate, and/or move 40% of DOE websites to the Energy.gov platform by winter 2012. Challenges: The changing media environment and rapid expansion of high-speed Internet access over the past few years have fundamentally changed the ways that members of the public and businesses consume information. This creates new opportunities for the Department of Energy to more effectively communicate and increase transparency. As we modernize the Department’s approach to digital communications, we will also realize significant opportunities to save money for taxpayers. Historically, the Department’s website and digital communication efforts have been almost entirely decentralized. Our program offices each have maintained their own distinct websites. Not only do these have a different “look and feel,” but also in many cases have a different underlying infrastructure to support their individual websites – paying for software (a Content Management System, or CMS) as well as hardware (buying and maintaining computer servers to host the websites). Offices also employ a wide range of contractors to maintain and update their websites that modern technologies could eliminate. The result is a fragmented and confusing user experience for consumers and businesses making it hard for these key audiences to find the information and services they are seeking – at an unwarranted high cost for the government and taxpayers.

Stakeholder(s):

• DOE Office of Public Affairs


• Consumers: Key Customer Groups: Consumers and businesses.


• Businesses

Objective(s):

S 3.1: Feedbacl

S 3.1.1: Issues

S 3.1.2: Usability Studies

S 3.2: Best Practices

S 3.2.1: One-Platform

S 3.2.2: Search Functionality

S 3.3: Metrics and Standards

S 3.3.1: Feedback

S 3.3.2: Web Analytics

S 3.4: Streamlining

S 3.4.1: Findability

S 3.4.2: Infrastructure

S 3.4.2.a: Open Source Content Management System

S 3.4.2.b: Cloud Hosting

Content